TURN IT DOWN: A survey of Lansing's musical landscape

Bouncing with Bob Log

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Playing quick Delta blues is only half the story for Bob Log III, a Tucson, Arizona-based one-man band. His finger-picking, slide guitar style may be his signature sound, but he is also known for his wild shows.

Dressed in a shiny, tight jumpsuit and topped off with a motorcycle helmet (that’s wired with a telephone, which he uses for a microphone), Log has been putting on an eccentric stage show for almost 15 years.

Log — who plays Monday at Mac's Bar — is known for inviting both woman and men on stage to sit on each of his knees while he performs such songs as “Boob Scotch” and “Clap Your Tits”; he then “bounces” them while he continues to play the drums with his feet. Just one of the oddities of Log’s stage show.

“My best ideas come when I’ve been in the car for too long,” Log said. “After eight hours in the car, you think, ‘If I’m sitting on a stool and I’m kicking my legs — what if I put a girl on each leg?’ You can’t think of an idea like that after two hours in the car. After eight hours, you start to think, ‘Maybe I can bounce girls!’”

As far as songs about breasts, Log said he wrote them in hopes of finding humor in them.

“Most of my songs about boobs are songs about how boobs are used as a tool to manipulate people,” Log said. “So many TV commercials are like, ‘Hey! Boobs! Buy my cell phone!’ — or whatever they are using the boobs for.

"What I’m saying is, let’s take the power out of the boobs and make them ridiculous because they are funny. If you think about it, it’s just a sack of fat with a nipple on it.

"So I’m saying, clap them together. Take the power out of them and make them hilarious for just five minutes of our lives.”

Log said people have been bitter about his boob-heavy performances.

“At a show in Sweden this girl got so mad about it — but when a fat guy got on stage and started clapping his tits, she was laughing louder than anyone else. Anyone can clap their tits if they try hard enough. As long as it makes the sound, we’re all happy.”

Log said his energetic “guitar party” is in full effect at every venue he plays.

“It’s wherever I am. If I’m playing in Finland, Tokyo or Lansing, the freaky people are in the audience because they know what I’m about,” Log said. “No matter what country you’re from, we all came from the same rock school. We all know about Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Black Sabbath.

"People talk and look different, but once we’re all in the bar sweating, it could be the same bar everywhere.”

@ Mac’s Bar 9 p.m., Monday, Aug. 2 2700 E. Michigan Ave, Lansing w/ Pork Torta, GrRoPoLis 18 , $10

A book signing for "Touch & Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine: 1979-1983" will happen from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, at Flat, Black & Circular in East Lansing.

The event will feature T&G co-founder, and Lansing punk legend Tesco Vee (also of the Meatmen), as well as T&G co-founder Dave Stimson, Tony Rettman (author of “Why Be Something You’re Not: Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985”) and Steve Miller, former vocalist of The Fix.

@ FBC 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 31 541 E. Grand River Ave. East Lansing (517) 351-0838

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